Paralegals and Legal Assistants in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,154
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$11,346
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,651
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$58,500
Kept after tax
$47,154
Worth in national money
$50,651
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $58,500, ranking 37 of 51 states — about 6.98% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 269 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $58,500 you keep $47,154 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $50,651 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,270, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin ranks 37 of 51 for paralegals and legal assistants, with a median of $58,500 — about 6.98% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Paralegals and legal assistants ranks 269 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $47,154 after the full tax stack, from $58,500. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $50,651 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,270 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Paralegals and Legal Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,210 |
| This salary | $58,500 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Wisconsin | $47,154 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,185 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$36 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $55,973 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$44 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $58,500 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,220 and the ninetieth is $86,210 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $47,154, from $58,500, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 269 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,651 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 269.
- The Wisconsin median of $58,500 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,220 to $86,210. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,154 from $58,500. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 269 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,651, worked from $58,500, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 269 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $61,270, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $45,220 at the bottom tenth to $86,210 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $50,651 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Wisconsin's own levy, $47,154 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Wisconsin is $61,270. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,220 to $86,210) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $50,651 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $47,154 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.